Self-reenforcing and/or antislipping veined object



Aug. 21, 1934. H. A. R. ZEHYRLAUT 1,970,830

SELF REENFORCING AND/OR ANTISLI PPING VEINED O BJEGTS Fil ed Nov. 15, 1929 g I foe/17 Patented Aug. 21, 1934 UNITED STATES SELF-REENFORCING AND/OR ANTISLIP- PING' VEINED OBJECT I Herbert A. R. Zehrlaut, New York, N. Y., assignor to Zeco Research Corporation, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application November 13, 1929, Serial No. 407,017

11 Claims.

This invention relates to traflic surfaces, that is to structures the surfaces of which are subjected to trafllc wear, such as floors, sidewalks, vehicle roadways, stair and escalator treads, and

the like.

An object of my invention is the production of a traffic surface, the material of which has antislipping properties along certain lines thereof.

Another object of my invention is theproduction of a tra'ilic surface, the material of which is self-reeniorcing.

Another object of my invention is the production of a fioor which-is highly resistant to trafllc 15 wear, of great beauty, and having antislipping properties, so that it is well adapted for mansions,

. public buildings, lobbies of hotels, ofiice buildings, and in fact for any location where a durable and beautiful trafilc surface is desired.

Another object of my invention is the production of an artificial and veined marble, which will have such antislipping properties that it may be used as a fiooring, without the possibility of people walking thereon being subject to slipping, even when the surface is highly polished.

' Another object of my invention is the production of an artificial and veined marble which will have the appearance of natural marble.

Another object of my invention is the production of a self-reenforcing artificial and veined marble so that the possibility of cracking thereof will be eliminated.

Another object of my invention is the production of an artificial and veined marble which will be sufficiently resistant to withstand the wear of indoor or street trafiic, so that it may be used as a floor or pavement regardless of the base used.

Another object of my invention is the production of a unitary artificial and veined. marble flooring .or pavement so that it will have the appearance of a uniform mass.

Another object of my invention is the production of an artificial and veined marble flooringor pavement consisting of separate tiles.

Another object of my invention is the pro-.

duction of a fioor or pavement of the type described, wherein my veined product comprises the whole of such floor or pavement.

Another object of my invention is the production of a floorin'g or pavement, wherein my ar tificial marble is used merely as surfacing material for the fioor, or pavement.

Another object of my invention is the renovation, repair, or rebuilding of an existing floor .amples of which are those having a base or hinder of material of the type of gypsum or plaster of Paris, or of Keenes cement, those having a base 66 of the oxy-salt type, such, for example, as magnesium oxy-chloride cement, Sorrel ement, or equivalents, those having a hydra ic cement base'or binder; as well as other types. In practicing my invention any types of plastic composi- 70 tions capable of being converted into self-hardening products may be used, but with a view to strength, hardness and durability, I generally prefer any hydraulic cement or Portland cement or asphaltum type of binders, or the like, it, of course, being understood that white Portland cement may be used for its color effects in place of the ordinary gray variety wherever this may be found desirable. My artificial marble or other artificial stone so consists of a body portion and a vein portion, and the veins are interspersed through the body portion generally as in natural marble. The body portion, as the name indicates, comprises the greater part of the mass, while the vein por- 5 tion comprises but a small minor part. The body portion may be of any suitable color or color variations, and the veined portions likewise may be differently colored than the body portion, with color variations in the veins when desired. While I prefer to follow the type of designs and colorings of natural marble, it is within the scope of my invention to have the designs of regular or geometric, or of any other, type, and the color and shade effects may be chosen at will with a view to artistic beauty.

- One of the important features of my invention. is the incorporation of grains or powders or combinations of both of harder or as hard material as is used in the body mass, so that the veins will lend antislipping properties to the resulting surface.

Another important feature of my invention is to have the veins running through the body portion of the mass sufficiently far apart for a good ornamental effect, yet sufficiently close to each other so that the shoe soles or heels of people walking on this will always be in contact with an antislipping vein. j 1 v Another important feature of my invention is no surface.

base material, and a plastic mass, which is to constitute the veining material, and then working these masses together for the production of the veining ,effect, are well known and form no part of my invention; and in carrying out my invention I may use any method whatsoever of combining the body material and the veining material to produce the desired appearance of veined natural marble or other artistic effect. The body portion may be of one color or shade, or of different colors and shades contrasting with or blending into each other, as may be desired. Likewise, the veins may be all of the same color or shade, or this may be varied in the same or in' different veins. One well-known method for interspersing veins through the body portion of artificial marble is like that used by bakeries and housewives in making so-called marble cake, according to which chunks of the two kinds of dough are kneaded together to a slight degree so that streaks of the one kind of dough are interspersed through the mass of the other kind of dough. If it be desired that the veins in the body portion of the marble be narrow, as compared to the body portion, then alternate thick layers of body portion and thin layers of vein portion may be similarly kneaded.

Antislipping tread surfaces have been made wherein the hard material is rather uniformly distributed therethrough, but my invention involves the concentration of. the antislipping feature along certain lines or areas of the tread For afloor or sidewalk the antislipping veins or ribs are to be, asstated above, sufficiently close together so that the foot of a pedestrian will always contact with an antislipping part, while for a vehicle roadway they may be much further apart, and they need only be close enough together to prevent an extended slide or skid of a vehicle. v

It is frequently desirable to have a polished appearance on certain types of wearing surfaces, especially fioors apparently made of marble; and with this in view it is to be noted that my'fioors may be ground and polished, and yet retain their antislipping properties. v

For the body portion I may use the ordinary plastic mixtures used for floors or sidewalk and road pavements, and when the binder is Portland cement, I use either the ordinary gray variety or the white, depending on the color effects desired, intermixed with the usual propor-' tions of aggregate orfiller material, together with the desired coloring materials in the re qured amounts.

For the veining material I use a mixture which will set into as strong or a stronger product than the body material itself, and I generally obtain this result by using a greater proportion of selfhardening material and a less proportion of aggregate or filler material therein, or the same proportion of self-hardening material and aggregates or filler' materials of higher hardness than the desired hardness of the base material after setting. Choice will be madeaccording to the degree of reenforcement and the degree of antislipping properties desired. However, in certain cases I may use a stronger type of cementitious material in the veins than in the body portion, that is, for special work I may make the body portion of the gypsum type, of the Keenes cement type, of the cxy-salt type, or equivalents, and the veining material of the Portland cement type or the like. This feature of my invention includes any type of veined products having a body portion and a veined or ribbed portion,

wherein at least some of the veins or ribs, after completion of setting of the whole, have a greater resistance to tensile, compressive, lateral, or other strains or stresses than has the body portion.

Fused alumina and silicon carbide, having a hardness of about 9 (Mohs scale), are well adapted as the antislipping material for use in connection with my invention, as are any other sufficiently hard materials. The size of the granules is not of importance provided they are not too large. For example, material passing a 12 mesh screen but not passing a 200 mesh screen is suitable, but these limits may be exceeded either way; and the hard granules may be of the size of grains of dust or a very fine powder, which may be used alone or together with larger granules.

While any hard material may be used for the anti-slipping function, I generally prefer one which is very hard, that is one that has a hardness of somewhere around 9 (Mohs scale), but

softer materials may also be used within the scope 1 of my invention, that is materials having a lower hardness than 9, although for most purposes I prefer that the hardness thereof be 3 or more (Mohs scale).

I may use for the body portion the ordinary 1 Portland cement mixtures which generally run 'from about one part of cement to one of inert filler, to one part of cement to eight of inert filler, and these proportions will be varied depending on the particular circumstances. For the veins (or ribs) I use a mixture having a lower proportion of inert filler, and a greater proportion of cementitious material, in order to have such veins (or ribs) stronger than the body portion. I naturally prefer great strength and hardness in the veins or ribs, and therefore prefer to use, for example, a mixture containing one part Portland cement to one part of any material with a hardness 3 to 9.

l The following specific examples are given merely by way of example, and without limiting the scope of my invention:

Another example of material for the body portion is:

Lumnite being a special cement manufactured by the Atlas Portland Cement Corporation, and being sold, and known in the trade as such. The veined or ribbed part, when the same special cement is to be used therein, may consist of 1 1,970,880 7 3 Parts through said body portion, said vein-portion hav- Lumnite 1 ing greater strength than said body-portion,-said Coloring material marble being a unitary-hardened integrally co- Other inert material 1 hesive mass.

various methods of molding and of the treatment appurtenant thereto, it being within my invention to use any plastic hardenable compositions of matter and any methods of molding, indurating or otherwise treating them.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my in-' vention more or less diagrammatically:

Fig. 1 thereof is an isometric view of a block made according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same block but with parts thereof broken or chipped away to adapt the block to be laid as a pavement or flooring about some irregular projecting object; and

Fig. 3 shows the block as cut away along the line A--B for the purpose of laying a flooring the length or breadth of which is not a whole-number multiple of the width of the block.-

In these figures a. designates the body portion or portions, and b, the vein portion or portions.

It is, of course, to be understood that the draw ing is not to be considered as a limitation of my invention, but only as illustrative thereof.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A hardened integrally cohesive mass of material, said mass having a cementitious, hardened body-portion and a cementitious, hardened veinportion, said vein-portion having greater strength than said body-portion and acting as a reenforcement in said mass.

2. A hardened integrally cohesive mass of material, said mass having a cementitious, hardened body-portion and a cementitious, hardened veinportion extending irregularly through said body portion, said vein-portion having greater antislipping properties than said body-portion and causing the mass to present an antislipping surface.

3. A hardened integrally cohesive mass of material, said mass having a cementitious, hardened body-portion and a cementitious, hardened veinportion extending irregularly through said body portion, said vein-portion having greater strength and greater antislipping properties than said body portion.

hardened vein-portion extending irregularly 5. An art marble comprising a cementitious, hardened body-portion and a cementitious, hardened vein-portion extending irregularly through said body portion, said vein-portion having greater antislipping properties than said body portion, said marble being a unitary-hardened integrally cohesive mass.

6. An artificial marble comprising a cementitious, hardened body-portion and. a cementitious, hardened vein-portion extending irregularly through said body portion, said body-portion being made of a mixture which is economical but sufficiently strong, and said vein-portion being made of a stronger mixture, whereby said vein- .portion reenforces said body portion, said marble being a unitary-hardened integrally cohesive mass.

"I. An artificial marble comprising a cementitious, hardened body-portion and a cementitious, hardened vein-portion, said vein portion having antislipping material incorporated therein, said vein-portion being irregularly streaked throughout said body-portion.

8. An artificial marble comprising a cementitious, hardened body-portion and a cementitious, hardened vein-portion, said vein-portion having antislipping material incorporated therein, said veins being sufiiciently close together so that the foot of a person walking on said marble will cover some of therein-portion.

9. A slab or block of shaped, hardened concrete resistant to traffic wear, a part thereof being made of a weaker cementitious mixture and a part thereof being made of a stronger cementitious mixture, said parts being hardened in contact with each other to produce a unitary surface, one said mixture being irregularly streaked throughout said other mixture.

10. A hardened mass of material, said mass having a body-portion and a vein-portion extending irregularly through said body portion, said veinportion having greater hardness than said bodyportion, both said portions comprising cementitious material set by water, one said portion being set to the other.

unitary mass of plastic material comprising a.

cementitious, hardened body portion and a cementitious, hardened vein portion, said vein portion being in integral union with said body portion and being made of material having greater anti-slipping properties than said body portion.

HERBERT A. R. 

